Sri Lankans have
slammed Indian Media for 'Politicizing' the Easter blasts. Sri Lankan Twitter
has been quick to call out Indian media and politicians, including Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, for using the series of blasts in the island nation as
"election fodder."

Almost 24 hours
after the blasts, the Sri Lankan government held local Muslim group National
Thowheed Jamath responsible for the attack.

Interestingly,
information about National Thowheed Jamath was provided by the Indian
intelligence sources, as reported by the Washington Post.

Pointing to
Modi's election rally later the same day, Sri Lanka's Twitter users called it
"political opportunism." Soon after condoling the deaths, the prime minister
appealed to people to vote for BJP's lotus in order to fight terrorism.

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The Sri Lankan
government has not named a suspect, nor identified any of them by religion as
till April 22noon. However, a section of Indian media was quick to identify
some of the terror groups, on April
21itself.

Adam Garrie, Director at Eurasia Future,says it has been confirmed by journalists
that the group trains in Chennai in Tamil Nadu the same location where LTTE (Tamil
Tigers) had previously trained.

Sri Lankan
authorities fall into a trap set by India?

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Writing under the title, "Sri Lankan
authorities may have fallen into a trap set by a foreign power (read India)."
Garrie says: "India has a long history of seeking to manipulate the power
balance in Sri Lanka in order to turn the country into something of an Indian
protectorate. These attempts have notably been resisted by most contemporary
Sri Lankan leaders who seek an independent foreign policy that aims at securing
win-win friendship not only with India but crucially, also with China and
Pakistan."

"India was one of the first open backers of
the LTTE's reign of terrorism that gripped Sri Lanka beginning in 1983. India
ultimately paid a price for its dithering in the early stages of the Sri Lankan
civil war. As a result of India's 1987 decision to publicly "switch sides",
LTTE assassinated Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. In spite of this,
it has been widely known in Sri Lanka and elsewhere that in spite of the
official rhetoric in New Delhi, India's RAW intelligence agency resumed covert
support of LTTE later in the 1990s, Garrie said adding:

"Since the end of the war against LTTE in
2009, India has sought to monopolize foreign influence in a post-war Sri Lanka
that has developed ever more economic ties with China and plays a key role in
the Belt and Road initiative. This has clearly been a source of consternation
for an Indian state that has a track record of meddling in the affairs of both
Sri Lanka and the much smaller Maldives."

As Sri Lanka defeated LTTE ten years ago, the
atmosphere of peace that had prevailed may well have created a false sense of
security that was ripe for exploitation. Even before Colombo named an obscure
Islamist group as the culprits of the attacks, Indian politicians up to and
including Narendra Modi began banging the drums of jingoistic Islamophobia as
is part for the course when it comes to the radical Hindutva BJP, Garrie argues
and adds:

Therefore, when one connects the dots, one
sees that India stands to uniquely benefit from Sri Lanka's turmoil not only in
terms of internal electoral politics but in terms of weakening a Sri Lankan
government that in spite of its allegedly pro-India Prime Minister maintains healthy
and growing ties to China and Belt and Road. Thus, the attack could well serve
as a "punishment" for Sri Lanka's "crime" of moving closer towards Belt and
Road.

A Chinese flag flies over in India's
backyard

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Hong Kong-based South China Morning News, reporting about the taking over
of Hambantota port, wrote in January 2018: "A Chinese flag flies over Sri Lanka as China
extends its reach into India's backyard. Chinese investment in two of Sri Lanka's
biggest port projects raises military concerns for New Delhi."

Wang Dehua,
director of the Institute for Southern and Central Asian Studies at the
Shanghai Municipal Centre for International Studies, was quoted by SCMN as
saying, In
addition to helping Sri Lanka develop, China's investment in the two ports in
the strategically important nation would help safeguard its own energy security
when shipping oil along Indian Ocean routes.

Author and journalist.
Author of
Islamic Pakistan: Illusions & Reality;
Islam in the Post-Cold War Era;
Islam & Modernism;
Islam & Muslims in the Post-9/11 America.
Currently working as free lance journalist.
Executive Editor of American (more...)

"In his groundbreaking new book Bottom Up: Tapping the Power of the Connection Revolution, Rob Kall invites and eases us into in a much-needed meta-level shift -- a truly basic paradigmatic shift from top-down to bottom-up. He capably and imaginatively explores the differences between these ways of approaching life, clearly demonstrating that bottom-up allows us to flourish. His vision and his book are enriched by telling references to interviews which he has engaged in over the years with bottom-up researchers, theorists, activists, and dreamers in a variety of areas. Think about Rob's interviews. Read this revolutionary book. And take one step further into the bottom-up universe yourself. You will not regret it."

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